


Mirror Of Her Soul

by Valentine20xx



Category: Darkstalkers (Video Games), Street Fighter
Genre: Gen, References Obscure Lore Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 04:17:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valentine20xx/pseuds/Valentine20xx
Summary: When Lilith finds herself meeting... herself, she discovers that the nature of her 'death' was not quite what she thought, disappearing into the mortal world as she tries to figure out the truth about herself, as she finds herself getting involved in the life and times of a completely different group of fighters...





	1. The Mirror Crack'd

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Darkstalkers, Street Fighter and all related trademarks © Capcom. References to Namco properties © Namco Bandai Games. References to SEGA properties © Sega Sammy Holdings.
> 
> The chain and collar mentioned in the prologue is a rarely seen bit of semi-apocryphal canon within America, since it involves a common Japanese view of Lilith, where she's shown in a lot of media wearing a collar, sometimes with a seemingly broken chain hanging from it. Within western media, the collar is usually effectively airbrushed out. This chain is indicative of, at least in this canon, the unbroken contract of slavery that makes Lilith's soul subservient to the ruler of Makai, namely Morrigan, and/or Jedah Dohma.  
The disclaimers are due to the larger universe created by the Cross series (Namco X Capcom, Project X Zone), especially since Lilith's actions will cause ripples throughout more than just her own universe...

Visibly, it was nothing but a dog-eared piece of dyed red leather. However, Lilith had tried everything including a blessed knife 'borrowed' out of Anita's supply. Nothing could cause more than a few scratches in the edges, and the demon runes were unable to be even damaged. As a result, Lilith felt like she'd never be able to leave her eternal bondage or servitude. She could even recall when she'd got it, when she'd been summoned from near-oblivion by Jedah Dohma, to work as his dragon.  
Her purpose was to work within the rag-tag group known as the Darkstalkers, a band of especially powerful daemons from Makai. Her main goal was to assist them in helping Jedah Dohma to create a new world with a demonic embryo, anything further remaining undisclosed. Her personal goal was to track down Morrigan, since she had, according to Jedah, had stolen a vast majority of her power, leaving her weak and underdeveloped, and would probably expire in only a short time if she wasn't able to recover what had been stolen from her.

What she'd not figured out until it was almost too late was that she was a sealed fragment **_of_** Morrigan's power, excised from her due to her being deemed too powerful by her father. As a result, the collar now was effectively a sign of her fealty to Morrigan, as a 'sister soul', which she could do with as she wished. As it was, all she did was keep her in the castle and at arm's length when she was out of the castle, not trusting that Jedah might have planned for reclaiming Lilith, and through her, Morrigan's full power...

Lilith knew that the only reason she was alive at all was the fact the power that had been sealed away continued to grow, and that excess power was what Lilith was left with. Right now was part of her brief respite from Morrigan's constant requests, Morrigan herself being asleep. She walked down one of the corridors that her 'sister' walked down when she was having a meeting with Demitri, having wall to wall mirrors all the way down the corridor for several metres. For some unfathomable reason, he felt it was offensive. Morrigan found it hilarious.  
She was roughly halfway down the corridor when she stopped, since her reflection had changed attire, and was now reading a book of all things, the 'reflection' snapping the book shut with a loud bang which startled Lilith. She was dressed simply, for Lilith, in the leather jacket and short skirt which had come to be her standard casual attire, only that and the book she was holding making her stand out, Lilith's own form shifting to the same outfit to remove the more glaring inconsistency. She couldn't create the book.  
"Hello… Me," Her reflection stated, "Umm, How do we put this?… First, I'm not some trick of 'Lord' Dohma. I'm from a potential future,"  
"So, why are you here?" Lilith asked, confused, "Even if you do have a point. Jedah isn't subtle about his requests... And he telegraphs his presence horrendously,"  
"You could call me the natural Lilith, not the heavily bound and cursed one you are..." Her reflection stated, "No-one normally picks up two conflicting geas and a soul contract at your age..."  
"Hey, What are you talking about?" Lilith asked, "And what do you mean by 'natural'?"  
"Bet you wish you didn't have that bit of cursed leather round your neck… It's still anchored to Jedah, you know that?" Her reflection offered, "The guy isn't really fond of releasing those under contract to him, and you weren't even able to read the really fine print… He's one of the two geas, and, obviously, the soul contract..."  
"So..." Lilith began, as she realised that Morrigan's wariness about her was completely and utterly warranted.  
"Yes, he's likely planning when to rip you out of Morrigan and claim her power for another of his power plays..." Her reflection sighed, "Look, You made a deal with the Anti-Christ, for crying out loud… He's also known as The Great Deceiver!… Jedah and his kind make a game out of waylaying innocent souls with their iron-clad contracts!"  
"I'm no 'innocent soul'… I'm a lump of Morrigan's power, removed whe… You know all this, don't you?" Lilith stated, as she noticed her reflection had gone back to her book, earning a nod, "You're not really listening either..."  
Her reflection shifted the T-shirt she was wearing as she slung her jacket over her shoulder to read, 'I got screwed over royally by the Anti-Christ and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt', before she snapped shut the book again.  
"I know what we were… But the thing is this… Mana is mana. Yes, you went too near Morrigan, and your mana was close to hers in nature, so we ended up in this situation..." Her twin began, before she paused, and looked at her, "The operative word, howver, is 'Mostly'… If all you were is Morrigan's power, sealed away in a remote bit of Makai, how could we be able to meet, and why do you have to be kept restrained at all?"  
Lilith found any response she could give to that challenge died on her lips. It didn't add up. She was genuinely caught in a white lie.  
Yes, she did get weaker when she strayed away from Morrigan's presence, yes, the chain of her collar did obey Morrigan's desires, for now...  
But then there were the inconsistencies. When she was away from Morrigan for long periods, she still had power, she still had a body, she didn't drop dead or fall unconscious... again... and she had some level of free agency. She'd assumed it was because she was using the 'free' mana left over from when it was left, but...  
"You'd almost think that Jedah faked the connection..." Her reflection offered, Lilith swearing mentally as an all too worrying possibility reared it's ugly head. Why did she drop unconscious right when she defeated Morrigan, waking up a few days later as her shadow, often literally? Why, if she was part of Morrigan, did she look so different in so many ways? Why did Morrigan keep the collar in place?  
Her reflection then let her see her neck, where a broken collar still sat, the chain long gone, before she breathed in and out.  
"I will admit, we needed to do what we did anyway..." Her reflection continued, "If we'd not encountered Morrigan, all that really icky dark-typed mana would still be in us, and that collar, the chain wouldn't even fracture in our lifetime..."  
"And now?" Lilith asked.  
"For me, I could snap it right now..." Her reflection offered, "I only kept what little remains of the thing for this day... But I need to do one thing first,"  
She then tossed a clearly magically shrunk parcel at Lilith, who caught and pocketed it, wondering what her doppelgänger was getting at.  
"Now, as for you, the items in there could break that chain, permanently, and with little chance of it coming back..." The reflection stated, "The collar however… That can't just be broken,"  
"Why are you telling me this?" Lilith asked, "You clearly broke the contract..."  
She shook her head. "I weakened it, I found wiggle room in the blasted thing..." Her reflection offered, "However, what you need to do is deny it. Deny it with every fiber of your being, like so… This is going to be loud..."

Lilith then watched as she reached up towards the collar, for her to hear an echo of Jedah's words to her, telling her that she was the rightful owner of Morrigan's power, that she would recover it and be whole, ringing about the room, then words she barely heard, the words reducing to a shriek as her twin grasped either side of the collar.  
"I declare the contract void, broken and false..." Her reflection intoned, "I declare myself unbound by any daemonic claims..."  
The mirrors shook, Lilith unable to hear the words of Jedah's contract as they unravelled, Her reflection's appearance flickering, shifting. For a moment, it was the look she knew so well, then red and blue became pink and white, then red and blue again, then…  
The shriek reached a crescendo, the only thing Lilith able to hear was the sounds of mirrors breaking...

"Damn… Never actually worked out how much power Jedah put into that accursed thing..." Her twin stated, back in the outfit she started in, "Don't try that right now, If you don't snap the chain first, well, you'd have either Morrigan or Jedah on you like flies on a corpse..."  
Lilith nodded. She'd fiddled with the collar a few times, to get a diatribe from Jedah about why she shouldn't mess with it. The fact that the contract was among the things she heard as her twin snapped hers told her how much it was still continuing his control over her, how it had control over her...  
"Leaving that, what's in your body is, mainly, none of Morrigan's soul at all… The soul in there is a young soul, a… mostly untouched soul..." Her doppleganger offered, "You can be forgiven for what the collar's influence did to you, but… You have to break your own..."  
As she paused, Lilith looked up and down the corridor, the walls cracked and buckled, the mirrors almost all broken, and she could see damage begin to affect the one that her doppleganger was stood in as well, as the piece of leather in her hands burst into flames.  
"It's only your choices, right now, especially with what you do with my gift to you, that parcel's contents, which will decide if you can weaken the hold of that collar upon you..." Her twin stated, her image beginning to fracture, "I think you don't need… know not… do it where… care about… Sword… Evil…ne can…ly break... chain..."  
The mirror then collapsed, and Lilith released a handful of her bats to spirit away the parcel, Morrigan arriving as they left the opposite way.  
"I thought I felt a white-wing's power in this area a short time ago..." Morrigan stated, holding out her hand, the chain appearing between them, before releasing it, "I guess I was mistaken..."

Lilith, normally would have ignored the insinuation of the gesture, except for one thing. She knew what she'd seen as her doppelgänger snapped her collar, plus the fact she'd checked if Lilith's chain was broken. She wasn't completely checking for a random 'white-wing', a term she'd only heard today. She knew about Lilith's true disposition, and was keeping her restrained in her own way… And she had a feeling she knew what she REALLY looked like, since Morrigan's check for a white-wing had involved summoning the chain.  
She'd seen her doppelgänger appearance when she was breaking the collar. She'd had a pink outfit and _white_ wings. Morrigan had mistakenly solved the last part of the puzzle about what she'd seen. The other Lilith had said she was from a potential future, one where… Oh my. Lilith slipped away from Morrigan, who was cursing the fact she had lost her favourite taunting corridor due to someone doing something, repairing mirrors. She'd be busy for a good hour or so, long enough to do some things to do with what she'd just witnessed...

Once she was in her chambers, what there was of them, she looked through the parcel. The main bulk of it, once it was expanded, was the same outfit she'd seen her twin wearing, with a note suggesting to find somewhere for her bats to roost for a few weeks, as well as to reduce the use of her powers to less than baseline levels until she'd found a way to avoid falling into bad habits. She presumed that using her magic would attract the Darkstalkers, and send her right back to Morrigan or Jedah.  
The other items were a can of something called 'Extra Strength Antiperspirant' and a heavy leather pouch with a compartment filled with green sheets of paper with people's faces on them, as well as a good amount of coins. Looking back at the pieces of paper, she noticed 'Ten Dollars' printed on them, and realised it was human money. The back of the note told her the antiperspirant would mask her allure heavily, so she'd not passively go round attracting men, and vampire hunters, like flies, as well as a piece of advice.  
'_Head for the Americas. Very few people there who would rat you out. There should be plenty of money in the wallet to get yourself a place to live and a good job. See if you can get into the Street Fighter circuit. Remember those people like Sakura?'_ The note read, '_They should give you plausible deniability for if you do decide to continue getting enjoyment out of a good fight. Never mind that they're also good people.'_  
Lilith smiled. Yes, she remembered Sakura. Never met her personally. Contemplated chatting her up once or twice. Didn't mainly since she had feelings for a man who could snap her like a twig. feelings that she knew weren't misplaced.  
Still, What would new clothes, antiperspirant, a new place to live and a job do which a blessed knife couldn't?


	2. Out Of The Darkness, And Into The Light?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: What Other Lilith was trying to say when the mirror broke completely...  
_I think you don't need to know not to do it where you care about. The Sword Of Evil's Bane can easily break the chain._
> 
> Now, I think you can figure out the rest fairly easily. The Street Fighter elements will begin in this chapter, as we explore a part of the Street Fighter mythos that only Udon seems to do that often… Downtime!  
I have Charlie being alive in the present because he's more use alive and not turned into one of Bison's experiments than presumed dead. Plus it's questionable if he IS dead due to recent events. Before I start, we have an important lesson on Darkstalkers, and succubi in general, according to information gathered by the fanbase...  
Succubi in Makai, especially those sired by the Aensland clan, have evolved to use any form of stimuli, including dream eating, to survive, using a kind of mental manna rather than the crude habit of purely using a young man as a quick lunch. The thrill of battle can be just as tasty as a poor soul's sexual fantasies, meaning that Morrigan and, by extension, Lilith can cut loose so easily in the games.  
However, they still, for obvious reasons, have the allure and other features of 'normal' succubi, as well as a fondness for using the carnal arts for a quick meal, unless they find something more appetising… like somewhere that has a nearly endless supply of stimulating material, like a tournament… or a library...

_New York City, New York, A few days later_  
"Yes, Ryu, Everything's fine here. Nothing has happened recently, Everything's set up for the party, will be flying her in later..." Guile stated. It was weird feeling, to be the go-between for the two major factions of a very surreal conflict, the battle against Shadaloo. Through his brother-in-law, he had contact with the martial artists, and his own military contacts were extensive, and often used for jobs like this.  
Admittedly, When Shadaloo were being active, it was a lot more surreal having to deal with the fact your brother-in-law could make anime look plain in comparison, and his blood brother... The less about that, the better. He was about to contact Cammy, see if there was a minor conflict he could parachute into, just to give himself something to do, when he noticed a girl walking around looking at the skyscrapers in wonder… and completely ignoring how close to the kerb she'd gotten.  
"YO, KID! EYES ON THE ROAD!" He snapped, the girl's eyes snapping downwards, for her to give a queer hop-back, her jacket fluttering oddly as she somehow corrected her backwards momentum, stopping on a dime, "Look, there's other things more interesting than the skyscrapers, like road safety. You were close to jaywalking on a busy road!"  
"Thank you, The name's Lily," She said in an accent that was clearly Scottish, and the fact she was so awed by the skyscrapers, likely she'd not been to America much before.  
"Well, Lily, I'm Guile," He stated, approaching her via the crosswalk, "So, What brings you to come here from Scotland?"  
"Recognised my accent?" She asked, "Family problems, wanted to get as far away from them as possible..."  
"So, A runaway, huh?" He offered, looking thoughtful, "Where are your parents? Can call them if.."  
"No, No, Parents have been dead for a while..." She stated, "My sister is the head of the family, and well, we had a falling out over the direction she was taking the family..."  
Guile didn't know why, but something about her comment was ringing alarm bells. Probably the fact that kind of line had been used involving terrorist cells and secret cults, with him not thinking about the fact he knew of both, and he hit a button on his phone, making it ring.  
"Yes, Jane, I'll be right there..." He stated, a code phrase to encrypt the line as the girl waved him off, he then called a number, his eyebrows raising as she abruptly did a skipping motion at, of all places, the New York Municipal Library, before heading towards it at a rapid speed.  
"This is Colonel Guile. What can you tell me about this girl?" He stated, "Name she gave is Lily, She's Scottish, Parents supposedly dead. Suspect she might be involved in something less than savoury since her sister is doing things she didn't agree with, if you catch my drift..."  
Charlie's voice came back a surprisingly rapid time later. "Did you say She's Scottish?" Charlie asked, "Did you feel light-headed or overly congenial?"  
"Yeah, I did, and No, I didn't to either of the last two..." Guile replied, "Why?"

At Headquarters, Charlie looked at the file that had come up within seconds, part of a demon hunting website that recent events had put new light on. Mainly since they dealt with humans who could pass for demons on a regular basis.  
"_LILITH AENSLAND, Born: Unknown, Nationality: Scottish. Known Family: Morrigan Aensland._" The file read, with no real information, but the fact that the picture they had of her had bat wings coming from her back and out of her hair told him everything he needed to know.  
He was about to respond when a blond-haired woman walked over, and tapped a command on the computer, closing and deleting the file.  
"Nothing important, just recalled something from when I was dead..." Charlie heard his voice say from the woman's lips, before she hung up the phone for him.  
"What was that about?" He asked the woman.  
"You will delete all records related to the Aensland family," She stated, "She already paid for her side of the arrangement..."  
"Arrangement?" Charlie asked, frowning, "Look, Lad..."  
He stopped as he noticed the woman had vanished, and when he tried to recall what he'd been doing, he couldn't remember a thing, only finding a single feather on the floor nearby.

A few days later, Guile came into the library to check up on the girl, to find her reading using an easy chair that normally was brought out for when they had school trips over, while sniggering at something in the books.  
"She's quite a little bibliophile, that girl… She comes in at the start of business, leaves at the end," One of the librarians stated, "Notably, she seems to get into serious sniggering fits whenever she reads, of all things, the fantasy horror books..."  
"You mean to say..." He started.  
"She's currently reading Mary Shelly's Frankenstein..." The woman stated, for him to walk over.  
"Victor would find this hilarious..." She was muttering, while taking a drink from a glass of water, Guile wondering who 'Victor' was, since he doubted she meant Frankenstein. Something he did notice was an odd thing, in that she seemed to look a lot less pale than when he'd last seen her, and the only things nearby were a jug of water and the glass, along with a pile of books that most people would consider the stuff of nightmares, but she considered the funniest comedy.  
"Hey, Lil, You busy tonight. The younger Street Fighters are gathering for a party to celebrate Sakura's birthday..." Guile stated. It was true. The fact that she wasn't a part of that group didn't mean he couldn't get her into it, since she seemed like the kind of girl who would be part of the semi-official Rival Schools program Justice Academy had run for a few years, until the 'school' had shut down, Sakura and Gouken organizing a smaller tournament, complete with rules and slightly better regulation than the Shadaloo-run tournament.  
"I'll see what I can do… But most of my nights are very busy..." Lil said, frowning for some reason as she noticed something, "...Hmm… Excuse me, I need to check something. Hopefully the reference section will not be quite as bad as last time..."  
"OK… I'll leave the address with the librarian..." Guile stated, "Come any time after 4, wear clothes you don't mind getting roughed up, A present is optional if you're willing to get into sanctioned brawls..."  
She quirked her head, then went back to the book. What kind of birthday party had _sanctioned_ brawls break out? It sounded **_very_** interesting. She watched Guile leave, before discreetly pinching her arm. It felt solid, firm and definitely more real than it really should, and she'd actually missed Morrigan's calls to come back to the castle in favour of another of the hilarious books she'd found in the library. Who thought mortals could be so hilariously wrong about the Darkstalkers?  
They missed a lot of things, like the fact Victor was notorious for snoozing near electric fences and power substations at a pinch to get a few hundred extra volts. She also hadn't needed the spray all day, having stopped releasing the practically fatal pheromones her race were known for naturally. After a brief look through both the books that purported to be about succubi, and then the reference section, she sighed. She'd have to go to see Morrigan and look there. Getting up, she retrieved the address, looking at the time. A quick browse of Morrigan's library, maybe checking out that small shop that was offering the apartment above it to let, and she'd still have time to attend the party before the night life began to stir.  
Or even the _night life_. She definitely needed to be somewhere safe before they began prowling.

While Lilith was using her natural charm, and what few pheromones she had left, to haggle rent prices, Morrigan was in a foul mood, rubbing her temples as she dealt with the throbbing headache she'd developed recently. What didn't help was that she was approaching power levels that would cause a coup if her underlings heard about it. Which was part of why she wasn't consulting them.  
"_**DOHMA!**_ You insufferable creature!" Morrigan yelled into her scrying mirror, Jedah appearing in it as dour and ignorant as ever. That's why she hated dealing with tricksters like Antichrists...  
"Why, Morrigan… You wound me..." Jedah offered with false sincerity, "What ails you that you would consult with me?"  
"My power is waning… You assured me the half-breed's power would sustain me… That she would obey me for eternities untold..." Morrigan spat, "I have even given myself quite a headache failing to summon her..."  
Jedah's eyebrow quirked just slightly. "Are you feeding well?" He asked, "I do know that feeding areas for your kin are shrinking..."  
"What does it matter to you? And you know full well my feeding is terrible," Morrigan stated, "I had to steal the mangy mutt's dream of chasing Felicia out of pique just to deal with my nightly nibble needs..."  
Jedah dusted his knuckles, before he smirked, Morrigan scowling. "Reason is this… Lilith's feeding is extremely good from my own tap on her power level…" He offered, Morrigan deciding not to yell at him for having one, "A quick draw on that font of somehow seemingly everlasting power, and you'll be right as rain..."  
"_Dohma_… You know that we feed off stimulus, fantasies and desires. We were made to bring them to the fore… before we slay the foolish mortal and consume every drop..." Morrigan snapped, "If she's feeding well, a Hunter would be tracking her already. I have tabs on both Donovan's brat and the wolf-slayer..."  
"And both Anita and Bulleta haven't got an APB out on anything unusual, Yes..." Jedah mused, "This is highly irregular… Still, The reason for her not answering is that her power level is way higher than your own right now, meaning it would be... hazardous for you to attempt a merge. When you see her next, correct it. I do not want to hear any more."

As he disappeared, Lilith walked past reading a copy of the Clair Bible that one of her distant relatives had stolen, her normally red wings beginning to lighten off to their natural white and pink colour. The fact she actually could read the book was already something Morrigan didn't like, the wings were just the icing on the cake. Whatever Lilith had been feeding on, it wasn't something that she should have considered lunch. It was clean freely given mana, and that couldn't stand.  
"Where have you been?" She snapped, Lilith yelping as she marked her page before looking towards her, a pair of glasses she'd been using turning into a bat and pausing before turning into a hairband.  
"Why?..." Lilith asked, "I only came back to look over a few things..."  
"You insolent..." She snapped, ignoring Jedah's advice in her fury, "You will return to me and we will deal with you later..."  
Nothing happened, Lilith flicking through the holy tome a bit more as she located something. "RETURN!" Morrigan commanded, summoning the chain of Lilith's leash.  
"I think that's a bit excessive..." Lilith observed, "Also, If I read what I did right, you'd probably not come away from it very well... I think I'd actually end up consuming you..."  
Morrigan approached, glaring, only to scowl as she noticed Lilith's body was not slightly translucent, being actually whole. "How come is your body whole?" She asked, "You've not had a body ever since you encountered me..."  
"From what I could glean from browsing the library while you were having your argument with Jedah..." Lilith offered, "I heard his name yelled a couple of times… It's not hard to tell why… Still, From what I can tell, My power level has increased due to something about what I was doing earlier..."  
"And what were you doing earlier?" Morrigan pressed, contemplating killing her butler for not telling her that Lilith had got back. Then resurrecting him since she had a shortage of good labour that wasn't brain dead from too much snacking on their life force.  
"I was making plans to move out… Well, I found this really interesting place called a library. It had some hilarious books about daemons, completely inaccurate, but mortals... They can't get..." Lilith stated, only to stop as Morrigan appeared to have frozen in shock, "Morrigan?… Morrigan?!"  
Gathering a medium-sized ball of her mana in each hand, which she siffused a bowl of soup with, she left it on the table, before summoning their manservant. "When she wakes back up, have her eat the soup, it should help with whatever is causing her the problems she is likely having," Lilith stated, writing out the address of her apartment, "Drop by tomorrow for a few more infusions..."  
When Morrigan recovered from her shock, she ate the soup, while trying to process the fact Lilith had basically self-stimulated herself to S-Rank power levels, thankful for what she'd added to the soup. It would get rid of most of the tired look she was getting. But she was not pleased with the fact she'd been effectively told 'Take this and see me in the morning'. She wasn't that old to need a nursemaid...  
She'd still send her butler to pick up the rest of the infusions, since she couldn't disagree that she needed them. And she could tell Jedah that she'd found some mana to top her power levels up. Where from... She'd not tell him that. Ever.

Sakura looked at the new girl Guile had mentioned as she arrived at the party shortly after 7pm, holding a copy of what she suspected was a Slayers fan book.  
"Into anime?" She asked, pointing to the book, "I highly doubt there are real copies of Amelia's spell book..."  
"Oh, No, no, no..." The girl stated, handing it Sakura, for her to look cross-eyed at it, before handing it back, "Amelia did exist, Maybe. But It is a genuine copy of the Clair Bible. One of my relatives… borrowed it a long time ago, but couldn't read it... Probably since they were a zealot..."  
"Anyway, You can sign up for the tournament over there. If you've brought a present, put it over there..." Sakura stated, pointing in two directions, "If you get a phone call from my parents, block their number, I'm not here, and if you get a call that the phone traces as coming from Thailand, hang up and speed dial 6,"  
"You didn't ask them if you could come to New York to have your party? And why Thailand?" The girl asked with an eyebrow raised.  
"It's a need to know basis," Sakura stated, "Suffice to say that no-one I want to hear from calls from Thailand,"  
"Ookay... Anyway, Don't worry about the parents, My sister would have a fit if she knew I was here," Lilith stated, a half truth. Morrigan would have a fit if she wasn't in need of regular mana infusions to get her power levels up.  
"Dan covers my air fare for most things, this time it was Guile's idea," Sakura mused, "Last minute change of plans since my mother already intercepted Dan,"  
"Sneaky… Is that the same Dan who _doesn't_ teach you martial arts?" The girl offered  
"Darn. And I thought that was secret. OK, Honesty time. Right now, I'm getting pointers from Ryu's old sensei, to correct the umpteen mistakes I made attempting to copy the style," Sakura admitted, "I think that's part of why Dan wasn't the one approached to help me with this subterfuge. I think he's getting wise to me..."  
"Anyway, I'm having a housewarming party myself tomorrow, here's my address. Bring at least one book," Lily offered, before going to the sign-up sheet, signing 'Lily Anderson,"  
By that evening, Sakura called Guile to thank him for the recommendation to get to know Lily. She was definitely interesting, and the fact she actually used some of the defensive spells from the Clair Bible had been cool as well. The fact she could actually _use_ the Clair Bible told her she was a good person, since it was doubtful any kind of evil force could use it.  
Guile just nodded, added Lily's name and address to the list of potential recruits if Bison showed his face, and went to sleep satisfied.


End file.
